1/12/16 was the start of a new, 2-year legislative session in NJ. New bill numbers:
A457: Adds PTSD as a qualifying condition for marijuana therapy;
A2482 Ensures workplace protections for medical marijuana patients;
A2068 Legalizes marijuana and provides for sale and home cultivation;
A2116 "Right to Farm" marijuana for medical use;
A861 Medical Marijuana is equivalent to the use of any other medication;
A416 Dedicates taxes from medical marijuana to medical research;
A2050 Decriminalizes 15 grams or less of marijuana--imposes civil penalties.

2nd Edition of "CMMNJ Patient Handbook" being developed; get new info to Jim Price.

Facebook deleted pages for 3 NJ ATCs for "violating community standards"; community outraged. Ken toured Breakwater ATC on 1/22/16; very impressed with the facility.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Approve January 2016 minutes. All 2016 meetings are in Room #2, not #3. Discuss:

1/12/16 was the start of a new, 2-year legislative session in NJ. New marijuana bill numbers:
S2898--To add PTSD as a qualifying condition for marijuana therapy--now A457
S3162--To ensure workplace protections for medical marijuana patients--now A2482
S1896--To legalize marijuana and provide for sales and home cultivation--now A2068
A1129--"Right to Farm" marijuana for medical use--now A2116
S1169--Medical Marijuana is equivalent to the use of any other medication--now A861
A1730--Dedicates taxes from medical marijuana to medical research--now A416
A218--Decriminalizes 15 grams or less of marijuana, imposes civil penalties--now A2050

CMMNJ's meetings are the 2nd Tuesday of each month from 7 - 9 PM at the Lawrence Twp. Library, 2751 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence Twp., 08648. All are welcome. (Meeting at the library does not imply Mercer County’s endorsement of our issue.)

Today, 1/12/16 is the start of a new, 2-year legislative session in NJ.

CMMNJ testified at the Senate Health Committee on 12/21/15 on S3162, to ensure workplace protections for medical marijuana patients (it was released from committee); and on S2898, to authorize medical marijuana for patients with PTSD (discussed but not voted on). Chairman Vitale said S2898 would pass out of committee later. The new bill number is A457. S1896 will be rewritten with NJUMR with more explicit protections for recreational marijuana users.

CMMNJ has 72 copies of the Winter 2015/16 issue of O'Shaughnessy's. beyondthc.com

Gov. Christie signed A4587 on 11/9 to require schools to permit oral marijuana use by qualified patients, but the Barbour lawsuit continues so that nurses can administer it.

New York opened their medicinal marijuana program on 1/7/16 with 71 patients and an MD registry of 174 docs, and 8 of 20 dispensaries open; no smoking allowed!

CMMNJ Year End Report for 2015 was published; detailed account/audit of finances sent to Board members.

Ken and Jim at Redbank Fundraiser

About The Coalition

Coalition members hold diverse opinions, but we all agree:

Arresting patients is wrong, and it must stop now.

Modern clinical research, centuries of experience and the impassioned personal accounts of thousands of real patients concur: Marijuana can alleviate symptoms of certain serious medical conditions, and it can do so when other drugs fail to help.

Doctors should be free to recommend this medicine to promote health, and sick or injured New Jerseyans should be free to use it responsibly.

The safety margin for therapeutic marijuana is as wide as it can be ─there is no known lethal dose.

New Jersey healthcare professionals dispense potentially lethal drugs every day. We trust them to do so very carefully, and solely to benefit their patients. Common sense and compassion demand that doctors should control non-lethal marijuana medicine for those who truly need it. To make this important change a reality, your voice is needed.

The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act was introduced in the State Senate in January 2005 by Senator Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden). A companion bill is pending in the Assembly, sponsored by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton) and Assemblyman Michael Carroll (R-Morris Township).